Close Your Eyes
by pearly-mist
Summary: Does distance really make the heart grow fonder, or will Syaoran's shock departure be his very last memory with Sakura? Saying goodbye is never easy, and 10 years of friendship may not be enough to keep them together...SxS, AU
1. Part One

A/N: This is a songfic based on the _Close Your Eyes_ by Westlife (which, unfortunately, I don't own D:) A lot of the Westlife songs have come across to me as very vivid stories, and _Close Your Eyes_ was one of them, so it was inevitable that I would write a fic around it, and what a better couple to fit the fluffy bill than Syaoran & Sakura. Although this is the first fic I've posted on my account, it is neither the first I've ever written (that was _Whisper the Wind_, which currently doesn't feel like it wants to be finished much,) nor the first I've ever published on (I've posted two fics, one HP, one CCS on the joint account I share with cherrichik; you can find the link on my profile) so if anything seems out of place or the fic is generally crap, I'll have to take the flames without the 'This is my first ever fic so please be nice!' excuse :)

If you can, I'd recommend listening to the song before you start so it's easier to transition into the atmosphere I'm trying to set up.

I hope you enjoy the first chapter to this five-part fic!

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PART ONE

_If you wanna know....  
Tomorrow morning I have to leave_

Tomoyo marched into Sakura's bedroom, determination evident in her authorative stride and furrowed brows. In four long strides, she reached the curtains, wrenched them open, and allowed the harsh rays of midday sunlight to flood the room. Sakura moaned in protest, shifting beneath her covers and trying to block out the intruding light with her pillow. "Tomoyo...I told you, I'm _not_ getting out of bed today."

"It's Syaoran's last day, Sakura. We have a dance to prepare for," Tomoyo stated flatly.

As she felt her bed covers being yanked from their protective position over her head, Sakura turned over so that she faced away from Tomoyo. The pillow she had used to aid her in blocking out the sunlight, she now covered her face with, muffling her voice as she spoke. "I _know_ it's Syaoran's last day. It's why I'm not leaving. And I told you yesterday, Tomoyo. I'm _not_ going to that dance."

But Tomoyo was persistent. She had not spent a sleepless night devising up one of her brilliant plans, and one of her equally brilliant outfits so that Sakura could be a sulk. Although she knew Sakura had been upset at Syaoran's reluctant announcement during sport last week, her patience was running thin. They had already wasted half the day, and as far as she knew, Syaoran was probably packing his suitcase already and was tearing up his ticket to the dance with a vengeance. They had no time to lose. "Sakura...I know you're angry, but don't think Syaoran's not upset too. Don't punish him for a decision he didn't make."

Sakura didn't reply; Tomoyo only knew half the story. She wasn't angry at Syaoran – how could she truly feel that way when he had already gone through such obvious discomfort to let her know he was leaving? The truth of it was, she didn't know how she could ever face Syaoran again after how she had been treating him.

*_Flashback*_

_As the rest of his sports class trudged wearily off for their drink breaks, Syaoran jogged lightly to where the girls were warming up for the Senior Athletics Trials. He felt his stomach tighten with anticipation as he spotted Sakura lounging on the grass, stretching her legs, whilst giggling surreptitiously at some private joke. The sight of her, so carefree and blissful, made him stop in his tracks. He paused, clenching and unclenching his fists, before taking a resolute step in her direction. Procrastination was not going to make this any easier for either of them._

"_Sakura!" he called, before smiling weakly and plunging on with half confidence, "I have something to tell you."_

_Ignoring the suggestive winks and muffled laughter of her friends, Sakura rolled her eyes and pulled herself up, making her way over to where Syaoran was standing, fiddling nervously with his hands. Noticing his awkward hand movements, Sakura frowned and surveyed him with thorough concern. "Syaoran...are you ok?"_

"_No –yes...I mean..." He stopped, deciding to take a new stance. At the way things were going, he'd be here for a long time. "You know that we'll always be friends no matter what happens, right?"_

_Sakura nodded, slowly. She couldn't figure out for the life of her where this was leading. _

"_And you know that I would never do anything to intentionally hurt you, right?"_

"_Syaoran, if this is about not entering the race with me, I told you already. If you can't do it, Chihahru will be my partner. It's no big deal."_

_Syaoran shook his head. It was now, or never. "I'm...Sakura... I'm leaving."_

_Sakura was uncomprehending. Syaoran gave her 5 minutes to digest the information in painful silence, before he ran a hand through his hair, and decided to get things moving. "Sakura, I'm-we…my family have decided to move back to Hong Kong."_

_His response was met with an unnerving silence, broken only by the carefree chatter of his classmates as they returned from their break, revitalised, and ready to take on the rest of the lesson before recess. Sakura's hair ruffled in the wind – the only part of her that was moving, or reacting to any of the surroundings. _

"_I'll come back for you, Sakura. I promise. It'll only be 3 years." Syaoran offered, trying to ease some sort of reaction out of her – anger, hurt, disappointment – anything was better than this impassive, deathly, silence._

_Sakura nodded wordlessly to show that she understood, then flounced off to join Tomoyo. _

_Syaoran had time to note the comforting arm Tomoyo draped around Sakura's shoulders, before they were joined by Chihahru, and the sports teacher blew the whistle and signalled for the lesson to resume. That was the last he saw of Sakura for the rest of the day, no matter how hard he scouted for her. _

_But wherever I may be  
Best believe I'm thinking of you_

Sakura fought to hold back her remorseful tears as she thought of how she had reacted to Syaoran when he had come to her house that evening, hoping to smooth things over. After what she had done, she wouldn't blame him if he never talked to her again. In any case, she didn't think she could face him even if he did.

_*Flashback*_

_Sakura went to unlock the gates, her eyes puffy and red from all the tears she had been crying since she got home. Her mind was numb from the hurt and the disappointment of Syaoran's proclamation; and she couldn't even think of anything to say as she found that, standing on the other side of the gates with a massive bunch of red roses, was Syaoran_.

_Sakura glanced past the hopeful gaze he was giving her, and greeted him with a curt. "What are you doing here?"_

_What little hope he had left in him upon seeing Sakura's emotionless stare quickly vanished, and his shoulders drooped in defeat. "To-"_

"_-Syaoran. There's nothing left to say here, and there's nothing here for you." Syaoran opened his mouth to reply, but Sakura held up her hand. "You're leaving in a week, Syaoran. Doesn't our friendship mean anything to you?"_

"_Sakura, I've been meaning-"_

"_Don't tell me what you've been meaning to do! You knew this would hurt. The least thing you could've done was give me some time to prepare for it. I obviously don't mean as much to you as I think."_

_Syaoran made to protest at the unfairness of it all, but, thinking better of it, voiced a weak, "I'm sorry, Sakura. I really am." On a sudden, he remembered the yellow roses he was holding in his hand. A symbol of friendship; a marker of how much had passed between them since that fateful first day when Sakura had tripped over Syaoran's foot during the lunch break. Smiling hopefully, Syaoran wordlessly handed them to Sakura. _

_The gesture, however, was met with quite a different response to the one Syaoran had anticipated. Instead of taking the roses, and calming down, Sakura threw out her arm, sending the roses crashing to the stone pathway leading to her house. She realised that she was being childish, and above all, selfish against Syaoran's mature stance, but that realisation only served to increase her flaring anger. Without thinking, she pulled back her right hand and shoved Syaoran back with as much force as she could muster, crying out, "If you cared, Syaoran...if you _truly_ cared about me, you wouldn't be leaving."_

_Syaoran threw his arms out to steady himself, shocked at her spiteful behaviour. "Sakura..."_

_But she was already leaving, storming up the steps of her house. In a final, feeble attempt to restore the order, Syaoran called out, "Sakura, just give me a chance to explain myself! Don't say that I don't care. That's not fair."_

_Sakura whipped around, salty, bitter tears streaming down her cheeks. "Not fair? Don't you _dare_ tell me what's unfair and what isn't. Don't you even dare," she spat with an almost polished vehemence. Syaoran could only watch as she made the final few steps to her door, stepped through, and slammed it with excessive force. He stood rooted to the spot, staring silently at the door as if it would offer him some sort of resolution to the uneasiness in the pit of his stomach. It must have been fifteen minutes before a particularly loud howl from the wind stirred him and, starting, he reached down to finger the delicate rose petals, damaged by Sakura's fury. _

_And as Sakura watched from her precarious perch on the balcony several meters above, her heart thumping wildly, and her tears streaming freely, Syaoran picked up the mess she'd made, and walked into the night without another word._

_I can't believe how much I love you_

Sakura buried her face in her hands, sobbing uncontrollably, not wanting Tomoyo to see the shame etched across her features. But when she felt a light touch on her shoulder and turned around to respond, Tomoyo's expression was sympathetic, and when she spoke, her tone was affable.

"Sakura," she said gently, "stop being so hard on yourself. When Syaoran told you this, he knew you would be upset, but he told you anyway...because he _cares_ about you, Sakura. He cared enough to tell you in person. Don't you understand? He could have easily let you hear it from someone else."

Shaking her head slowly, Sakura wiped the last of her tears away. She had cried so much that she could hardly appreciate her friend's gentle smile through the puffiness of her eyes. "Tomoyo, that's exactly why I'm so upset." Then, almost ruefully, she continued, "It must have been so hard for him."

"As it was for you. But you've got to realise that this isn't a choice Syaoran made, and you can't punish him for it. You've just got to accept the fact that he's leaving, and make the best of the situation."

Giving a final sniff, Sakura raised her head slightly and looked at Tomoyo squarely in the eye.

And set her jaw determinedly.

That was when Tomoyo realised how strong Sakura was, and saw for possibly the first time that she was going to grow into an amazing woman. And one day, Syaoran would come back for her, and realise it too.

Standing up with that same resolution that sparked from her eyes, Sakura gave a somewhat forced smile at Tomoyo. "And let me guess. 'Making the best of the situation' means I'm going to the ball."

"You got it."

"Well then," she said, arming herself with a towel, a change of clothes, and a hairbrush, "let's get started."

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Thanks for staying with me this far and I hoped you enjoyed this chapter. Please remember to review, even if it's just to say it wasn't much to your liking. Constructive criticism is awesome, flaming is not!!!

Until next time,

- Ngoc


	2. Part Two

PART TWO

_All we have is here tonight_

_We don't want to waste this time._

Syaoran tried to busy himself by the punch bowl as possibly the tenth girl that night approached him and inquired in a sugar-coated voice whether he was free for the next dance. He sent her off, as he had with all the others, with a curt, "No." He hadn't been free for any of the previous dances, he wasn't free for this one, and he wouldn't be free for any others in succession.

Except for one person. And she wasn't even here tonight.

Running a hand through his mess of chestnut hair, Syaoran sighed dejectedly. When he had prepared for this dance an hour ago, he had been ready for disappointment. Sakura's reaction the other night had made it very clear exactly how she felt about him, and he was almost certain she wouldn't be turning up.

As he stared around the town hall, admiring the lavish decorations, he felt a keen sense of sadness for the first time. Leaving Japan was the most difficult thing he would do in his short lifetime. Leaving Sakura was twice as hard. Just as his eyes drifted wanderingly over the grand oak doors at the entrance to the ballroom, they opened, and in stepped the most beautiful girl he had ever seen.

She wore an ethereal dress of white chiffon, which ended just below her knees at the front, and trailed behind her silver heels at the back. The thick straps, which lay on her bare shoulders, crossed over the front and were brought in by an empire waistline. The entire dress was covered by intricate gold embroidery, and a matching mask concealed her eyes. When she turned her head to gaze admiringly at the couples on the dance floor, her soft auburn curls bounced gently around her arms.

In one word, she was breathtaking.

Even the orchestra skipped a note as she stepped into the room. Syaoran tried to calm his rapidly increasing pulse, as he reasoned with himself that Sakura's hair was naturally wavy, not curled into ringlets; and that it went just past her shoulders, not to her elbows.

Even as he was going through the similarities and differences in his mind, wondering whether he should just go with his gut feeling, she moved towards the balcony to the right of the dance floor and disappeared into the night.

Fearing that it had indeed been Sakura, and that she was having second thoughts in turning up, Syaoran raced after her, accidentally sending a couple crashing into their startled neighbours in his haste.

_Give me something to remember_

Sakura leaned against the railing, her gloved hands trailing against the cold metal. She didn't know what had sparked her urge to come outside – it was the middle of winter, and a storm was forecasted. Yet the sky was safely clear, showing off its blanket of twinkling stars. Admiring the view, Sakura sighed. When she had first entered the room, she could've sworn she saw a mess of chestnut hair in her peripheral, but in the next instant, an enamoured couple glided elegantly across her vision, and it was gone. Syaoran was nowhere to be seen.

And _then_ she had had this strange impulse to go out and do some stargazing. But the beauty of the stars only made her sadder. Tomoyo had been wrong – she had hurt Syaoran, and he had no reason to be here tonight. Expecting him to show up for her was selfish and wrong.

Silently, a tear slipped out from under her mask and traced its way down her cheek. Another followed the first, then another; but before she had the chance to reach up and wipe them away, something soft pressed against her cheek, absorbing her tears and making her start and turn around.

To her amazement, it was Syaoran, looking just as taken aback as she was.

"Sa-" Syaoran began, but he stopped himself abruptly and shook his head, as if he couldn't quite believe his eyes. Instead, he touched the edges of Sakura's mask and whispered hoarsely, "May I?"

As she nodded, he lifted her mask slowly, his eyes widening as Sakura's unmistakable emerald eyes surfaced beneath the mask. "You _came_."

Not being able to meet his searching gaze, Sakura took an involuntarily step backwards, tearing her mask free from her face in the process. Instantly, she regretted the action, as Syaoran was left holding the limp plastic in his hand, his face marred with an almost incomprehensible hurt. And before she had even time to think up a suitable apology, he was gone.

Quite simply, Sakura was left gaping open-mouthed at the empty spot where he had been. And without any warning, a flood of memories crowded her mind:

Tomoyo's sympathetic gaze as she said, with wisdom beyond her years, "Don't punish him for a decision he didn't make."

Her brother ruffling her hair and telling her, "One day, you'll understand, Kaijuu."

The plentiful lines which creased her father's face every time he smiled.

The last of Syaoran's rose petals drifting lonesomely into the night.

And all at once, she lost that self-pitying, gnawing feeling of being alone, and lost. She stopped trying to pretend that she wasn't hurt, wasn't angry; stopped trying to believe that everything could be _perfect_. And that was when she realised that everything Tomoyo had said, everything Touya had protected her from, everything her father had prepared her for, every single bit of love and care she had received, built up to this one moment.

And she might never be able to live it again.

_Baby put your lips on mine..._

_And I'll...love...you...forever..._

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A/N: I think this chapter is a lot more emotional than the previous one; my writing isn't very structured & I think if you were to 'read' someone's emotions, that's what they'd sound like. All over the place & passionate. And that was most definitely _not_ just an excuse for my poor writing :D

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, it wasn't very long & not much was said & done, but it definitely needs to be here :)

Please remember to review, I loveloveloveloveLOVE your feedback & it's really nice to think that you took the trouble to sit down and write a few words for me!

Happy Reading,

Ngoc


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